R. Kelly (Robert Kelly) grew up in South Side Chigago, as a kid he had his heart set on being a professional basketball player until one of his teachers helped him discover his musical talents. In 1991 he released his first album entitled Born Into The 90's which became hugely successful. The follow-up released in 1993 called 12 Play features hits like Sex Me and Bump 'N Grind which topped the Billboard R'n'B Charts for 3 months, and the album has sold over 4 million copies worldwide. His third album, R. Kelly, was released in 1995, it spawned hits like Can't Sleep Baby and Down Low (Nobody Has To Know) and had guest appearances by the Isley Brothers, Kirk Franklin and the Notorious B.I.G. It also went on to sell over 4 million copies. If Kelly hadn't become a singer he would've made it as a basketball player, which was his childhood dream, so there was no doubt in his mind when Michael Jordan asked him to write a song for the Space Jam soundtrack where Jordan plays the leading role. After watching the film he decided he should write an inspirational, uplifting track. The result was I Believe I Can Fly, a song that generated 5 Grammy nominations and won 3 of them. If it wasn't for his high school teacher Lena McLin who saw potential in him and took him off the basketball court where he spent most of his time, into the music classroom. Although he was not thrilled at first, but not before long she had him singing classical arias. When he graduated he had polished his singing skills and could easily go between alto and baritone, and written up to 500 songs which McLin told him to copyright. His latest album to date is the double album R., with the singles Half On A Baby, Home Alone and When A Woman's Fed Up among others. Besides working on his own albums, Kelly has worked with several artist, both well known and talents he has discovered. He has produced and written tracks for Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, Luther Vandross, Aaliyah, Toni Braxton, Boyz II Men, Kirk Franklin, and now most recently Sparkle and Kelly Price. When Kelly was 13 years old he had his bicycle stolen by some local thugs, and as they were leaving with it they shot Kelly in his shoulder. He realized then that he should stay away from gang life and concentrate on making it out of the hood. When Kelly was little his mom used to play Stevie Wonder, Marwin Gaye, the Isley Brothers, Donny Hathaway and other soul music, this became his inspiration when he started out as a musician. He gave his first performance at a high school talent show, he put on sunglasses, a suit and sang Stevie Wonder's Ribbon In The Sky. After he had graduated high school, he started trying to make money off of his music, he started playing on the streets of Chicago, he had a hat where people could put money, and it became full really fast, so the next day he brought a bucket along with his keyboard, and when he later counted his earnings he had made $400 in 6 hours. In 1990, Kelly performed some of his songs at a barbecue, which happened to be attended by Wayne Williams, a representative of Jive Records. Williams later said "He was singing original material and he had dance steps to match, you had to be impressed." After Kelly had produced 15-year old Aaliyah's album Age Ain't Nothing But A Number in 1994, rumors started that they were a couple, and also that they were married. Both Aaliyah and Kelly denied it, but the rumor has followed them ever since.